April 21st, 2015 - The Official Reason to make your Website Mobile Friendly

Importance of responsiveness after the 21st April update

The increase in the use of mobile device for business searches has been magnanimous. Large number of devices launched frequently is also helping the wider penetration of businesses globally. However, many still fail to understand that a mere presence on the internet doesn’t help. Now is the era of responsive web development.

Till today, Entrepreneurs and bloggers have assumed the mobile friendliness of a website to be a competitive edge – an element to attract the maximum amount of traffic. But the new updates that will be launched on April 21st, 2015 cause a revolution in the market. Mobile friendliness will rise from being just a competitive advantage to a business necessity for sustaining in the market. Google’s latest update will include mobile friendliness as a search engine ranking factor. This change is going to affect websites worldwide, regardless of the language and will also have a significant impact in the mobile SERPs. The update is aimed at providing mobile users with more qualitative search engine results optimized for their devices.

For now, Google has not come up with a name for this update. However, over the course of the next one month, many websites will integrate a substantial number of changes to their mobile websites right from themes to content. For those who have not yet understood the importance of website responsiveness, now is the time. The implications are not too complicated either. Mobile websites running on Drupal and Wordpress can be modified to a responsive template. However, there are several content management systems (CMS) that are yet to be updated to the realm of mobile responsiveness.

With the 21st April update, Google will be expanding on the mobile ranking demotion algorithms that were launched back in 2013. It had indeed been a long time since Google last experimented with mobile ranking algorithms. A month’s time is what Google is giving to all websites willing to make an impact with mobile SERPs. Google has also stated that after April 21st, mobile applications that have been indexed via App Indexing feature of Google will also rank higher in search engine results. This will however work only for users who have signed into Google on their mobile devices. Consequently, the App Ranking doesn’t imply iOS products.

As more number of people have started using mobile devices for their web search, there has been a global inclination towards the development of mobile friendly platforms. Google has already started to make small changes and pushing out testing tools that cater to the mobile friendly demand. This is also the first time that Google has announced a specific date for an update.

The new update will also encourage businesses that have not yet ventured into the mobile platform to develop a responsive web interface. For those who have, the compatibility of their site can be tested with several easy to use tools that Google provides.

Unknown implications

While the announcement from Google is pretty straightforward, the SEO community is already speculating that the changes towards a mobile friendly website will also impact Google’s ranking for traditional desktop websites. The clues are already showing up. However, we are still in the dark whether the effects would be on a domain basis or page wise. This knowledge can, however cater businesses that have a different set of platforms for both desktop sites and mobile versions. Mobile friendly labels are already showing up in the SERPs and this can boost traffic to a great extent.

Considering the demand, it is strongly recommended for all websites who wish to stay in the business and not lose out to technologically updated competitors, to work on the mobile-friendliness of their websites. Once the update is released, it will only get harder to rank above the businesses that have already established themselves to be user friendly. Businesses have previously lost a substantial amount of revenue for poor mobile usability. If you have been thinking twice to hire a responsive web developer, this is your last chance to find the best one that could create wonders for your business. Stay updated today, or regret tomorrow!

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About
Guna Nadar

I mostly write technical aspects and not much into creative writing. For the past decade I worked along with top notch SEO & Internet Marketing professionals which naturally lured me into the world of Search Engines. When I am not writing I read from comics to philosophy.Antiques, Fishing, hunting are my passions. Currently I am working on Google Penalty protection and .... more info